


Soul Connection

by rebelling_against_a_rebellion



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Conversations, Cute Ending, Developing Relationship, Flying, Forests, Inspired by Studio Ghibli, Kiki's Delivery Service AU, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelling_against_a_rebellion/pseuds/rebelling_against_a_rebellion
Summary: When Akira's magic had grown weak leaving him unable to fly for his delivery services, the eccentric yet kind artist Yusuke offers to spend to time with him in the countryside in hopes that the change of pace would help the young mage in training to get back in touch with his magic once more.Aka: A Kiki's Delivery Service AU ft. Shukita
Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist
Kudos: 12





	Soul Connection

**Author's Note:**

> The zine that this originally meant for unfornately fell through, so we've been given permission to post our works now. Even though it didn't work out, I feel so honored to have worked alongside so many other talented writers and artists on the project, so I have no regrets.
> 
> I've been wanting to publish this for a while now because I really love how it turned out, so I hope you'll love this as much as I do! Enjoy!

Akira cursed aloud as he tumbled down the grassy slope. He had lost count at how many times he's attempted to fly again since he noticed it earlier this morning. The magic that normally coursed through his body was no longer there, now making him more sluggish and irritable, though he couldn't decide whether the irritability was more his reaction to the situation or an actual side effect. All he knew was that he was definitely going to get some bruises later and that he will have to wash the grass stains out of his dark purple cloak.

Finally rolling to a stop at the bottom of the hill, he lifted his head to find that his trusty broom, which he had carved himself, had snapped into two pieces a few feet away.

"No!" He gasped and crawled over towards the wooden remains, their broken ends splintered. He threw the pieces back onto the ground in frustration.

A cat's meows paired with little footsteps ran down from the top of the hill towards him. His familiar, a black cat with white paws and a white-tipped tail, stared up at Akira with piercing blue eyes. Any hopes that Akira had of being able to speak with his familiar were dashed when Morgana meowed instead of spoke. His cat rubbed up against his legs, attempting to comfort him.

"Morgana…" Akira whispered, a wasted effort.

"Akira?" Ann’s voice called out. She, Ryuji, and Yusuke hurried down the grassy slope towards him. Akira pushed himself up to his feet.

"Dude, you alright? We could hear ya shouting for the past couple of minutes from work," Ryuji said as he jerked his thumb back towards the nearby LeBlanc Cafe and Bakery.

Maybe he should've done his flying attempts further away from his current home. Come to think of it, he’s surprised that Sojiro didn't come out to chastise Akira's noise levels that could distract his customers. Then again, Sojiro did allow Akira to have a day off after Akira explained yesterday how he had been feeling off, and this was shortly before his magic completely depleted. Ann and Ryuji had pulled through for Akira to cover his shift in the combined bakery and cafe today. At least there didn't appear to be any new customers requesting for Akira's flying delivery service. Now he won't be able to even do that.

"My word!" Yusuke's deep gray eyes widened, noticing the broken halves of Akira's broomstick and picking them up to inspect them. "What happened?"

Akira looked down ashamed. "I've lost my ability to fly. I can't even understand Morgana now..."

"Wait, a witch or mage could lose their powers?" Yusuke tilted his head. "I didn't know that could even happen."

"It doesn’t happen often, but it’s possible." Akira crossed his arms, almost hugging himself. "Still, to have this happen _now_ of all times..."

Yusuke looked at the broken broomstick pieces in thought. "You've been working hard the past few months that you've been in this town. Do you think Sojiro will let you have another day or two off?"

"Maybe. Why?"

"If he will, may I offer for you to stay at my place for a night or two? Perhaps a change of scenery could be beneficial for you."

Akira scratched his arm, shyly looking at the ground. "Well..."

Ryuji patted Akira's shoulder. "I can continue to cover for ya, man. I'd rather you have a proper break instead of having you moping and throwing yourself down hills all the time."

"What about Morgana? I don't want to bother Yusuke with an extra mouth to feed." Even though Morgana couldn't speak to Akira like usual, his indignant growl and low swishing tail made his annoyance at being left behind very clear.

"Don't worry, I'll look after him until you return," Ann offered. Morgana let out a bright trill in response and walked over to rub his furry face against Ann's legs, purring loudly. Akira rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Alright. If Morgana has no objections, then I'll take you up on your offer, Yusuke. It's not like being stuck here has helped much. Just let me talk to Sojiro and it won't take long for me to pack."

"Perfect!" Yusuke smiled and adjusted the day pack on his back and returned the pieces of his broken broomstick to Akira, the artist's cool, thin fingertips brushing against his warm hands. "I'll wait in front of LeBlanc for you."

Yusuke's place was outside of town, though Akira already knew that. He and Morgana had accidentally crashed into the area a few weeks ago as they were running late for a delivery. Yusuke had appeared upon hearing them crash into the nearby trees. Despite not knowing much about who Akira was, Yusuke helped to mend the ripped stuffed toy, allowing Akira to make his delivery just in time. Later on, they ran into each other again in town while both were grocery shopping. Since then, Akira had grown close to the eccentric artist who then became a part of Akira’s new friend group.

The golden afternoon light streamed through the thick pine trees. Following the narrow dirt road, they finally made it to Yusuke's home in the woods, a small, rustic cabin. They stepped onto the low front porch where a small pile of chopped logs sat to one side of the front door while a simple wooden bench sat on the other side.

"This glue should suffice, right?" Yusuke asked as he pulled out the bottle of fast drying glue they had bought before leaving town.

"Hopefully." Holding the broken ends of his broomstick together, Yusuke carefully applied the glue and Akira laid the broomstick down on the bench for it to dry. "Perhaps this will be a good time to make it up to you for helping us before? You said you wanted me to help you with your art stuff?"

"Yes, you're just the person I need for the piece I'm working on."

Yusuke opened the creaky front door to reveal the small, cozy space that's one open room. It was minimal in the sense that there were only a few pieces of essential furniture; there was a bed, a small table and stool, and a wood fire stove for cooking and heat. The space was far from empty and lifeless however as the windows letting in the afternoon light illuminated the art supplies scattered around, the empty canvases piled up to the side, rough sketches on the table, and even some small paintings on the walls.

Akira's eyes stopped to focus on a large, in progress painting on an easel. The paint strokes rough yet alive as churning ocean waves surrounded the seaside town that they were living in. What surprised him the most was the subject of the piece in the foreground, above the bright, warm houses of the town below.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Akira asked. 

"Sort of," Yusuke replied, a light tinge of pink on his pale cheeks as he pointed out the roughly outlined mage figure flying on a broomstick. "More like, inspired by you. I can't seem to get the face right, though." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you mind modeling for me?"

Akira nodded. "Sure.”

Yusuke picked up a dusty, wooden broomstick from one corner of the room. Akira followed Yusuke's instructions, mounting the old broomstick and tilted his head slightly upwards as if he were looking ahead as he flew across the sky, trying to match the pose of the figure in the painting. Yusuke sat cross-legged on his bed and started sketching.

Akira stood still for some time as the scratches of pencil gliding across paper filled the small space. His thumbs ran over the handle, the wood rough from a lack of daily use. Very unlike Akira's own broomstick, smooth in places from the years of flying practice he'd done in secret. It wasn't like he had the greatest support system in terms of magical training, something that he should've rightfully had. A year wasted, unable to train or use magic thanks to being blamed for burning down some crops with magic just as he was starting to learn it. It was discovered later on that a high level fire mage was responsible for the crime, yet they deemed it too far into the year to bother lifting Akira's magic ban.

"You're deep in thought about something," Yusuke's voice drew Akira out of his thoughts, hand now still, and their eyes met. Akira broke eye contact, choosing instead to focus on the tree-lined view from a window of the small cabin.

"Is it that obvious?" Akira asked.

"I'm an artist, remember? I notice these little things," he twiddled his pencil between his fingers. "Would you like to talk about it? I know I probably won't be of much help, but I could at least listen."

"Isn't the artistic subject supposed to be quiet or something?"

"Don't worry about that," Yusuke answered softly. He closed his sketchbook on his lap and leaned forward. "Do you have an idea on what had brought on this melancholy?"

After some thought, Akira sighed. "A thought came to me last night. That I'm failing."

"Failing? I don’t see how that could be."

"I'm supposed to figure out my main skill to build my life around. It's what our year of training is for." Still in the pose, his fingers gripped tighter onto the broomstick, bitterness creeping in his voice. "And now? I've lost the only big skill I've got."

"Flying, you mean?" Yusuke concluded. "That makes sense considering how you're succeeding in your delivery business."

" _Was_ succeeding," Akira corrected. "Besides, it's such a basic skill all witches know, anyway."

"Just because something is basic doesn't mean that it isn't valuable or it should be ignored. That's kind of like art in a sense."

Akira huffed. "Of course you'd say that."

"No, really," Yusuke shifted uneasily, a sadness in his eyes. "You remember what I told you about Madarame?"

Akira frowned. "That fraud convicted of art forgery, right?"

Yusuke nodded. "Since I moved out here about a year ago now, I struggled with painting on my own without Madarame's guidance, as manipulative as he was. He told me I should paint what others in the greater art world deem to be important, not necessarily what _I_ saw. As a result, I ended up creating merely soulless copies. When I started my solo work out here, I realized something."

"What?"

"I have my _own_ artistic voice. It's still a struggle, but with my skills, I can connect to the viewer and present my unique view of the world through imagery imbued with my soul."

"Hmm, funny that you mentioned the soul," Akira replied thoughtfully. "The soul is something we witches and mages rely on for flight and other aspects of our magic. For me, I don't see flying as just a form of transportation like how one would see a car or a train as a way to get from one place to another. I loved flying since I was little because it's when my soul is the most free. Flying allows me to connect with a lot of different people in different places."

Akira's cheeks got warm meeting Yusuke's eyes. "I've met wonderful people, like you and the others."

When he had settled down into this seaside town for his training, he quickly learned that life in a larger town was busier, louder, and at times, colder than his childhood home in the countryside. Maintaining a blank face to guard himself was his way to survive the first few days alone with Morgana as his only companion.

And yet, this self-imposed mask had cracked bit by bit, thanks to the people that came into his life. Sojiro, the grumpy owner of LeBlanc with a heart of gold who housed him when he had nowhere else to go. Ann and Ryuji, the first two friends that helped him out of trouble with the cops the first time they met. Even Akechi, an already established potion mage, had been helpful with teaching him some basic magic.

Akira' walls had worn down thanks to them. Flying might be taken for granted, but the possibilities of good that one could do, it makes Akira feel he could do anything, that the world could become a better place through making those connections.

Yusuke gasped, eyes wide as his pencil fell out of his hand clattering to the floor.

"What? What's wrong?" Akira asked.

Yusuke pointed at him. "You're floating!"

Akira looked down and gasped. Sure enough, he was on the broomstick, hovering above the ground.

In a split second decision, he hopped off the floating broomstick and burst out the front door. He tossed Yusuke's broomstick aside and scooped up his own broomstick, sprinting ahead along the dirt road up away from the cabin.

Yusuke called out behind him with hurried footsteps. "Akira, what are you doing? Is the glue even dry yet?"

Akira skidded to a stop and mounted his broomstick. "Guess I'll find out!"

He closed his eyes to recall those feelings. Moments so carefree, filled with light, surrounded by his newfound friends.

No. His new family.

They made the world worth exploring again. To reach out, connect with the world in a way that only he could.

His feet left the ground, his body weight resting on the broomstick as he rose higher and higher into the air, Yusuke standing awestruck far below him as Akira relished the familiar feeling of his curly hair dancing in the wind.

"I'm doing it!" As if on cue, his broomstick swayed under his hands like it did when Akira first rode it, speeding downwards until he crashed into a large bush.

"Akira!" Yusuke cried out and ran over to find Akira on the ground, having rolled off of the bush. "Are you alright!?"

Akira giggled as the world spun around him. "I'm okay. Beats tumbling down a large hill."

Yusuke helped him up, steadying Akira by his shoulders and carefully picked out the leaves and branches stuck in his messy black hair.

"Really, Yusuke?" Akira's voice became soft. "Thanks for talking to me." 

"Not a problem, just don't scare me like that again," Yusuke pulled Akira into a tight hug. He stood in shock for a few seconds before wrapping his arms around Yusuke in return. The world stopped spinning under Yusuke's steady hold, a force that Akira knew he could count on.


End file.
